ALUMNI TALKBACK

Will there even be a University to come back too? And will we still have to call is "CASE" or can we be more inclusive perhaps and call it "CWRU" instead?

Dear Baffled Alum - As a long-time alumn from the Cleveland area, I am on campus every week and can tell you that our University is alive and thriving. The faculty continue their primary mission with enthusiasm and the students are thriving. Politics will always play a huge role in any University, but it will always be our alma mater, no matter what its name is.

Hundert wanted me to contribute to a University to which I was never accepted! Western Reserve University offered me a place in the Adelbert College class entering September, 1967. I remember the discussion at that time of the precedence of the Case (Tech) name over its University partner, and the question of whether the "Western Reserve" part would eventually be dropped. One day the newsletter dropped into our laps the announcement of exactly that change, with the comment that branding was too far along to be reversed. A propaganda piece followed, by someone who had been pained by the name truncation, but who had decided to continue contributing nonetheless. Apparently I wasn't the only one who disagreed. The new administration would do well to pay heed.

The name is still CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY! The name has not been changed! Why are people so stuck on a marketing abbreviation, because that is all "Case" is. Is that all you received from your days at Case is a school's name? People should be more concerned with the education and the value received from it. The name of the institution you graduation from will always be the same for you, but lets start worrying about the education of those graduating from Case today and in the future. I am really concerned for today's students if the name is all they get from their money and days in class.

I must disagree with the last posting. Yes, the name is still officially Case Western Reserve University, but thanks to the misconceived rebranding done during Hundert's tenure, the institution has managed to alienate a large segment of its alumni base. While I would hope that people received more than just a label/name during their time at the University, I also understand why many are upset about the "Case" brand along with the "knot." These are symbols, but they are important icons that can instill a great deal of loyalty and support or hostility toward an institution. And yes, we should be concerned about the quality of education today's students are receiving, but how about recognizing the continual support and loyalty of past students as well? The old CWRU brand was more inclusive and reflected the histories of the institutions--"Case" does not.

If this blogs provides an outlet for you to vent, Baffled Alum, then that's great. But I agree with the previous poster. We may be reading the comments of a few vocal alumni on this blog, but I don't know that they are representative of the entire alumni body. I suspect that to most people, and certainly the more recent alumni, the nickname change isn't that big of a deal.

I would direct the last poster to read the comments on the alumni blog regarding President Hundert's resignation--that might give you an idea of the scope of general disatisifaction with the whole "CASE" rebranding.

For all we know, it's the same person posting again and again.

I would like to point out that the reason I have not commented in the past was because the Board required "positive" comments only. I have mostly negative comments for the board or the president. So my advice to the last poster is: don't play with fire.

You don't have ot go by blog postings -- donation and unrestricted giving to the university is down. is it because of the name and symbol? I think that and the way the current administration has related to them.

I must point out the logical phallacy (yeah, I got more than a name in my years there) of people claiming that the name/symbol don't matter... if it doens't matter, why was it changed?

Concerned alum:
Were you going for phallic or fallacy?

Back to my original question of April 11--what is the state of the University? I've watched the Eastwood clip and while it was somewhat informative it raised more questions than answered. What is the state of the University and why should alums automatically open their wallets for the institution that was so poorly lead and put in this financial mess?

Not to derail this thread...but has anyone seen anything solid about the financial future of the institution and is it not a concern that over the summer months there seems to have been a mass exodus of deans from the University? Just trying to figure out what is happening at CWRU and am rather worried.